With guys like Oscar Taveras, Michael Wacha and Matt Adams set to start out on the farm, one wonders if a collection of Cardinals’ minor leaguers might be better than the Astros this year.

Cardinals GM John Mozeliak made it clear today that Taveras, likely the best pure hitting prospect in baseball, would open the season in Triple-A rather than claim a spot on the St. Louis bench, adding that it had more to do with getting him regular at-bats than it did starting his free agent and arbitration clocks.

Taveras is hitting .302/.348/.535 with two homers and nine RBI in 43 at-bats this spring, but it would make little sense for the Cardinals to carry him on Opening Day. Carlos Beltran should sit once a week, but Matt Holliday is a full-time player and since Taveras and Jon Jay are both left-handed hitters, there’s no way to divvy up the center field job at the moment. The Cardinals also have Shane Robinson tearing it up this spring; he’ll likely be the fourth outfielder.

Taveras, Adams and second baseman Kolten Wong will likely form the backbone of a strong Memphis lineup this season. Shelby Miller is likely to lead the rotation initially, though he still hasn’t been eliminated from contention for a spot on the major league roster. As for Wacha, it’s not yet known whether he’s Double- or Triple-A bound. The 2012 first-round pick has quickly established himself as one of the game’s elite pitching prospects this spring.

Former Mets catcher Johnny Monell signed a contract with the KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization, per a report by Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. The 30-year-old originally struck a deal with the NC Dinos on Thursday, but the deal appeared to fall through at the last minute, according to Cotillo’s unnamed source.

Monell last surfaced for the Mets during their 2015 run, batting a dismal .167/.231/.208 with two extra bases in 52 PA before the club DFA’d him to clear space for Bartolo Colon. While he’s had difficulty sticking at the major league level, he’s found a higher degree of success in the minor league circuit and holds a career .271 average over a decade of minor league play. He played exclusively in Triple-A Las Vegas during the 2016 season, slashing .276/.336/.470 with 19 home runs and a career-high 75 RBI in 461 PA.

The veteran backstop appears to be the second MLB player to join the KT Wiz roster this offseason, as right-hander Donn Roach also signed with the club last month on a one-year, $850,000 deal.

Brewers’ right-hander Phil Bickford received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for a drug of abuse, per the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Shaikin. This is the second time Bickford has been suspended for recreational drug use, as he was previously penalized in 2015 after testing positive for marijuana prior to the amateur draft.

Bickford was selected by the Giants in the first round of the 2015 draft and was later dealt to the Brewers for lefty reliever Will Smith at the 2016 trade deadline. He finished his 2016 campaign in High-A Brevard County, pitching to a 3.67 ERA, 10.0 K/9 rate and 5.0 BB/9 over 27 innings.

Two other suspensions were handed down on Friday, one to Toronto minor league right-hander Pedro Loficial for a positive test for metabolites of Stanozolol and one to Miami minor league outfielder Casey Soltis for a second positive test for drugs of abuse. Loficial will serve a 72-game suspension, while Soltis will serve 50 games. All three suspensions are due to start at the beginning of the 2017 season for each respective minor league team.

We are very disappointed to learn of Phil’s suspension, but we fully support the Minor League Baseball Drug Prevention and Testing Program and its enforcement by the Commissioner’s Office. Phil understands he made a mistake, and we fully anticipate that he will learn from this experience.